The louder the cursing outside, the more excited Fang Tong felt. She didn't feel tired at all, and she struck with even more force.
"So I hit him, what about it? You bunch of bloodsuckers, I'm telling you I want a divorce, I am definitely getting a divorce."
"You want money? Go ask Xu Yizhi yourselves! Calling me shameless? You're the ones who have no shame. Even I know there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. You live off the money I was sold for, and yet you act like it's only natural—who on earth is shameless here?"
Seeing that his parents couldn't get in at all, and darting frantically around the room without escaping Fang Tong's broom, Fang Chenchen finally chose to beg for mercy: "I was wrong, Sister, I was wrong! Dad, Mom, stop yelling at my sister, I'm going to be beaten to death here!"
"I will beat you to death! Today whoever comes, I'll beat whoever comes!" Fang Tong said. "You love money so much? Go get it yourselves, go begging on the streets like paupers! There is no way in hell I will ever have anything to do with Xu Yizhi again!"
With no other options left and listening to the earth-shattering commotion inside, Fang Xu and Qiao Shu could only plead bitterly, begging Fang Tong not to be so impulsive and telling her they could talk things over calmly.
Fang Tong was finally exhausted. Only then did she let Fang Chenchen go, barking an order at him: "Open the door."
Though his entire body ached so badly that he wanted nothing more than to stay lying on the floor, Fang Chenchen was terrified that his second older sister might lose her mind again. Struggling to his feet, he dragged himself over to open the door, and the moment it swung open, he let out a wail and threw himself into Qiao Shu's arms, weeping.
Heartbroken, Qiao Shu held her son—who was so much taller and sturdier than she was—and wept through her tears: "My poor Chenchen..."
Fang Xu stepped into the apartment with a dark expression, pointing a finger right at Fang Tong's nose: "You've completely lost your mind—"
Before he could finish, his words caught in his throat, because Fang Tong had picked up a knife and thrown it onto the dining table.
"That's right, I've lost my mind! Come on, step up and kill me, wouldn't that solve everything once and for all? Come on!"
Fang Xu's eyes widened: "She's crazy, she's completely out of her mind!"
Holding the knife, Fang Tong walked right up to him. "Do it! What's the matter, do you need me to do it myself? Because I can do that too—"
Fang Xu gave a start. He was angry with his daughter, certainly, but he had never intended to actually hurt her. Besides, since his daughter had managed to latch onto the Xu family, if anything were to happen to her, it wouldn't be easy to answer to the Xu family either.
He snatched the knife away and hurled it far across the room. "Have you lost your mind?"
Fang Tong just looked at him with a cold sneer, a look that made his hair stand on end.
Qiao Shu was equally terrified by Fang Tong's reckless, unhinged behavior, unable to say anything for a moment. Once she finally recovered her wits, she hurriedly chimed in, "Darling, forget it, let it go. Don't lower yourself to her level, getting Chenchen to the hospital is what matters most."
"Hold on!" Fang Tong said. "I haven't eaten. Make me dinner."
"You wretched little..." Qiao Shu started to curse, but catching Fang Tong's gloomy glare, the insults stuck in her throat. She muttered under her breath, "I don't know how to cook."
Fearing the situation after all, Fang Xu gave her a nudge. "The child is in pain, hurry up and cook her some noodles."
Grudgingly, Qiao Shu retreated to the kitchen.
Normally, the family employed a live-in housekeeper named Xiao Chen, but today they had taken Huahua back and eaten out, and Xiao Chen just happened to have personal business to attend to at home.
In the past, whenever Xiao Chen wasn't around, they would either eat out or Fang Tong would cook. When had they ever had to trouble *her*?
When the bowl of noodles was finally served, Fang Tong had barely taken a single bite before acid churned in her stomach, nearly making her retch.
With her stomach ruined, she couldn't keep anything down. Fang Tong got up, returned to her bedroom, and lay down.
"Hey, you..." Qiao Shu muttered, swallowing her anger. "She's the one who wanted it, and now that I've made it she won't eat. Come here, good boy Chenchen, you eat it all."
It was better if she didn't eat. A daughter like that didn't deserve to eat her cooking; it should all be left for her son instead.
To everyone's surprise, Fang Chenchen took only a single bite before slamming his chopsticks down. "You expect me to eat this? Who can swallow something this disgusting? I'm in agony here, hurry up and take me to the hospital!"
The entire way there, he kept crying and complaining about how hateful and unhinged Fang Tong had become.
"Dad, Mom, Fang Tong has definitely lost her mind. She used to not even dare lay a finger on me—back then, if I was unhappy, she'd spend ages trying to coax me."
"Waaah, today I just asked her to get some money from my brother-in-law, and she went crazy and beat me, calling us ungrateful bloodsuckers."
"Waaah, Dad, Mom, we're all family! For her to draw such a hard line like that is just going way too far."
Fang Tong neither heard nor cared about their complaints. Lying dizzy and feverish in bed, she was still thinking just before she drifted off to sleep.
No more medical treatments. No matter how many days she had left, she was going to live for herself. From now on, she would never try to please anyone again. Whoever made her miserable, she would make *them* miserable!
Her phone rang again. It was Xu Yizhi. Fang Tong glanced at it, feeling a deep wave of irritation.
The first time she ever met Xu Yizhi, she was eighteen years old. At a film festival awards ceremony, she had accidentally drunk a beverage handed to her by someone else. Feeling hazy and dizzy, she was helped to a nearby hotel room, only to realize something was terribly wrong; her entire body was weak, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break free.
Xu Yizhi had appeared at precisely that moment. Without wasting time asking questions, he strode forward and threw a punch straight into the face of the man supporting her, rescuing her on the spot.
A hero saving a damsel in distress—it was love at first sight, and her heart had instantly gone out to him.
It was only the next day that she learned his name was Xu Yizhi, the heir to Chuangsheng Group and a towering figure in the business world, while she was merely a fresh-faced starlet just starting out.
Yet their subsequent entanglements and intersections seemed to have worn away every last trace of that initial love at first sight.
She had accepted her fate; it had always been a one-sided devotion on her part.
Xu Yizhi had never been a patient man, nor did he make a habit of calling Fang Tong on his own initiative. Yet this time, he had actually called twice, and still hadn't hung up.
Fang Tong answered the phone, hearing his cold voice on the other end.
"Why aren't you home yet?"
That was simply how he was. It wasn't as if he was only cold toward her; he showed precious little warmth to anyone, including his own mother, Li Jintang.
It seemed Sun Qing was the only exception to that rule.
A surge of fury flared within Fang Tong, and she let loose.
"What do you want me back for? To apologize to your good little sister, is that it?"
"Xu Yizhi, you are blind and heartless. Since you love Sun Qing so much, why don't you just marry her and be done with it? Your mother likes her anyway!"
"You've never once bothered to find out the truth. As long as Sun Qing says something, you believe her and refuse to believe me. What am I? An NPC in the romance game you two are playing?"
Xu Yizhi was stunned by the verbal assault; Fang Tong had never spoken to him like this before.
Besides, growing up, who had ever dared curse at him in such a manner?
His expression darkened further as he looked around the cold, empty house in Xiyi. It was already this late, yet Fang Tong hadn't come home, and her luggage wasn't here either—she clearly had no intention of staying over.
Deliberately provoking Sun Qing... she had planned this in advance, hadn't she?
This woman really had been spoiled rotten by him beyond all bounds. It was high time she was taught a lesson.
Xu Yizhi's tone grew even icier: "Don't bother asking for your living allowance."
"Ha! Do you think I care? Xu Yizhi, I was truly far too accommodating to you and your family in the past, letting you boss me around and subject me to endless wrongful accusations. That is never happening again! I don't want you anymore! Do not ever contact me again."
With that, she hung up and blocked his number.